Carden Extra questions?

[ericb]

So it was my lucky day today. I was looking at airframes online and came across a Carden Extra 300. Here is the ad.

	Quote:
	30% Carden Aircraft Extra 300, built, not covered. Very good job of building by a friend of mine. Bought it for flying, now I fly only warbirds. Includes fiberglass cowl and canopy.

Well, I thought I would make an offer and I got it. Went and picked it up and to my surprise it is a 35%er. Like the ad says, no plans came with it. While I was looking at Cardens site, All I could find in the 104" wingspan range is the Extra 330. How can I tell if this is the 330 and not the 300. The plane is in great shape, but needs some finishing work done. Does anybody have any tips or hints to help me out? Any tips on setup and power would be greatly appreciated. A couple of strange things I noticed were that it looks like the canopy was built to mount with just one screw going threw the top into the frame. Is this normal? The other thing is the cowl is not split right in half. The bottom "half" comes up over the prop shaft and the top "half" has a lip that slides under that part about 1" behind where the spinner backplate will be. It that normal on Carden cowls? In all the pics I could find on Carden's website, the cowl was just split in half.

I was thinking of going with the DLE 111 on it. I have a DL 50 on my Dietrich Extra 260 and have had great success with the DL engines.

[ericb]

Another couple of ?'s. How are the wings supposed to be held on? Is there an older version which I might have?

[Wild Thang]

	Quote: Originally Posted by ericb
	Another couple of ?'s. How are the wings supposed to be held on? Is there an older version which I might have?

The screws will prolly bolt into the wing tube through the top or bottom of the wing if it's a old Carden.

[Danny Baker]

Mr. Eric: This sounds like you have one of the older Carden Kits. The old Carden 35%er had one screw hold down the full tank cover hatch (forward turtle deck), and it sounds like the builder attached the pilot and windshield area to the forward hatch area and left just the one screw to hold all that down. This will most likely not work due to the size and wieght of the larger hatch. You'll have to add hatch hold down tabs on the side of the hatch that stick down into the sides of the fuse (like all Cardens have) to hold your hatch in place. See pics here. You can see one of the hatch hold down tabs in the close up (lower right), and see the rear hold down tabs in the pic where I'm about ready to paint my Carden hatch.

The builder should have build a means of holding the wings onto the plane while it was being framed up. Please say at least there's incidence pins there so they mount "on incidence". There's really no way to describe how to come up with a way to mount the wings here without writing a book, and most likely you'll not be able to follow the step by step text here. I suggest you go to the field and look at other big bird aerobatic ships and get some ideas that will work with how your plane is framed up.

The way to tell if your plane is a 300 or a 330 is simple. You don't have a 300. No such thing as a 35% 300 from Carden. If it's the older version from the 90's. You might have a 300s. Which is a single seat, low wing version. If the rear sides of the plane are built up and not sheeted, and the wings recess into the fuse, you have an older version Carden kit of a 300s. Wings fit flush with the fuse sides, it's a newer Carden kit of a 330.

Your cowl is correct, it's split, but the two halves overlap. See pic of my Carden Yak cowl. All Carden cowls do this. And the pic shows how to mount the two halves together.

Hope this helps,
Dan Baker
Team Carden

[ericb]

Here are some pics. Your cowl is how I have seen them in the past. Mine is a bit different. As far as the wings go, the incidence pins are in and set, so I just need to come up with a way to hold them to the fuse. The wings sit flush with the sides. Does anybody have build pics of a 35% 330 Carden? I would love to see some to get some reference as to what all needs to be done yet. Mine is all finish sanded except for the rudder. I will add some bevels to the control surfaces also. Thanks for any help. I have built smaller planes in the past, just not anything this big. If there are any request for other pics to help out, let me know.

[Danny Baker]

There are several features in your pictures that lend me to think it's not a Carden. Carden's have fully sheeted wings, not the capped off strips with foam showing. Cardens do not have the cowl top hatch with one piece front, they have a truely split cowl, top half and bottom half. There's been a lot of mods done to the contruction that are not on the plans. And this looks like an Extra 260 to me since it has a tappered wing, high wing, one seat cockpit, no counter-balances on the elevators, allumi tube that is not anodized. Carden did not have a 260 back in those days..... Did you see the plans when you bought it? Did you see any box covers? See a sales receipt?

Hope this helps,
Dan Baker
Team Carden

[Neil4]

Yeah, I would have to say the same thing as Dan said, your airplane does not look like a Carden. The cowl, motor box assembly, and wings all do not ressemble the typical carden look.

[pepatrick]

Definately NOT a Carden..Im thinking an old Godfrey model...but not sure. Either way..it looks like a good build and probably a great flyer. Cover it...strap a DL or DA in it...and have some fun

[rcflyguy]

I was thinking Godfrey also, not 100% sure tho. If you still think it's a Carden, just give them a call.

[3dAndrew]

Either a Godfrey or a Lanier Extra. One of the two. Laniers have a similar wing structure! But either way good luck with it!!

[KnowCrashes]

	Quote: Originally Posted by pepatrick
	Definately NOT a Carden..Im thinking an old Godfrey model...but not sure. Either way..it looks like a good build and probably a great flyer. Cover it...strap a DL or DA in it...and have some fun

Send a note to Flying Skunks.. He'll know if it's a Godfrey or not. He's pretty much a Godfrey expert. I think that is about all he has in his trailer is Godfreys.

[ericb]

	Quote: Originally Posted by pepatrick
	Definately NOT a Carden..Im thinking an old Godfrey model...but not sure. Either way..it looks like a good build and probably a great flyer. Cover it...strap a DL or DA in it...and have some fun

I am starting to wonder the same thing. Either way, it was $200 so I will finish it up and go have some fun with it.